Making the Grade
by Red Tigress
Summary: The team needs to practice their...well, teamwork. A fight against Toyman and Scarecrow turns sour. Slight KF-centric, with KF hurt/comfort.


_A/N: Hey there! This fic contains mostly hurt/comfort and drama, with Arty/Wally and Supes/MM. That is all._

_Disclaimer: This is a for entertainment work, I do not own Young Justice nor am making profit off this work._

Artemis cursed when her arrow embedded itself into the concrete wall with a sharp _crack_, missing the Scarecrow by inches. He let out a cackle, diving into an adjacent corridor in the warehouse. A shadow passed over her eyes, and looking up she saw Robin gracefully swinging from pipe to pipe in the darkness overhead. "Don't aim for his head!" he shouted down at her.

Kaldur ran past her, intent on following their target. "He's right. Aim to incapacitate, not to kill." She grumbled, but begrudgingly followed. She didn't need to be told off. She hadn't been trying to kill him of course, it was just, well…second nature, to aim for the kill. A moment later, Kaldur's voice sounded in her head as he communicated with the team, via Miss Martian. _"Megan, we're in pursuit, but not gaining much. What's your status?"_

Megan used her telekinesis to fling a remote control airplane into a wall where it exploded with enough force to make her teeth shake inside of her skull. "_Not much better, Aqualad. We haven't been able to get a hand on Toyman yet."_ Megan grimaced as Superboy gave a howl before diving towards the small man with strangely disturbing doll mask on his face. She cringed when he was hit in the face with a yo-yo, and flung backwards, crashing into what looked like a water heater. Her suspicions were confirmed when heat began to spray everywhere. "Superboy!" She shouted, flying over to him.

Toyman giggled, the doll mask on his face shaking with delight. In sickeningly sweet voice he held up his yo-yo. "Never go anywhere without my kryptonite toy!"

Kaldur inwardly cursed when Megan stopped speaking. They must be pretty tied up. These weren't small fries they were chasing, these two were Grade A villains that gave both Batman and Superman a hard time. They had to be careful.

They had gotten intel that there was drug sale going down at a warehouse in Metropolis. Batman asked them to go, since supposedly it was generic gangs and Superman was out of town on some sort of interplanetary business anyway. When they got there however, they had found Scarecrow and Toyman directing men to pack up something in boxes. Drugged toys.

They had dispatched most of them easily enough, but Scarecrow and Toyman had split pretty fast, neither of them being the sort of bad guy to hang around and throw punches. Kaldur hadn't liked splitting the group, but both of these criminals were too dangerous to let either of them escape. Besides Robin, Kid probably knew the most about both of them, having been in the Superhero world the second longest. He knew Megan could do a good job directing Superboy's wildness and Kid's impulses, but he wondered now if he had made the right decision. Perhaps they should have all gone after one villain and called for backup for the other. But would backup have made it in time? He could review his decisions later.

He slowed down, looking around the hallway they were in. Pipes coated the ceiling, providing a maze that only the most skilled acrobat could transverse. Luckily, Robin was up there, but no one could know by listening. The Boy Wonder didn't make so much as a _plink_ navigating the metal passageways. No sign of Scarecrow though. His absence was starting to worry Kaldur.

Artemis jogged up right behind them, her bow in a ready position held down and in front of her, her fingers held lightly around the bowstring. Kaldur activated one of his energy swords, the bright light casting harsh shadows around the hallway, but not helping their situation any. _"Robin, do you see Scarecrow up there with you?"_ he asked mentally. As soon as he said it, he heard a low, maniacal laugh that seemed to echo from all around them.

"There!" Artemis shouted, and sprinted straight ahead down the end of the hall.

"No, Artemis, wait!"

Artemis bounded through the threshold into the next room where she found herself engulfed in complete blackness. She narrowed her eyes, trying to let them focus. She raised her left arm, holding her bow straight, but didn't bring her right arm back into a full draw. "Where are you?" she whispered to herself.

She jumped when she heard a whisper next to her ear in reply. "Right here, little girl."

She spun around but was met with a face full of gas. Her bow fell to the floor with a clatter, while she went to her knees beside it, covering her mouth and coughing violently. Her eyes were scrunched shut, but when she opened them, she screamed. The entire floor was alive with rats. The scampered over her hands and legs, fell on her from the ceiling. Tiny feet scraped the skin of her hands, and masses of fur brushed past her forearms. The air was alive with their small squeaks. She scrambled backwards into the wall, which was warm and moving and gave way behind her. She screamed as a river of rats flowed over her shoulders and into her mouth.

Kaldur made it to the door just in time to hear Artemis scream and scramble towards the wall. She kept screaming and he ran over to her, cupping her face in her hands firmly. She was hyperventilating, her eyes darting back and forth unseeing. "Artemis!" he shouted, but she didn't seem to hear him. Instead, she began clawing frantically at his hands, sobbing and screaming loudly. Realizing she must have been hit by Scarecrow's fear gas, he called for his missing teammate. "Robin! Get in here!"

Robin had known Scarecrow was in the ceiling and was intent on following him, but when he heard Kaldur's shout, he reluctantly stopped listening for the sounds of someone intent on escaping. He was in the same room as Kaldur and Artemis now, and heard her sobbing and screaming. He dropped to the floor, and his eyes widened when he realized what had happened. His hands flew to his belt, where he drew out a vial of amber liquid. An antidote to Scarecrow's fear formula. Batman made him carry it on him at all times. He ran over to his teammates. "Hold her still," he said to Kaldur. Artemis had stopped screaming and instead was moaning quietly, her body wracked with tremors. He unscrewed the lid and held the vial under her nose as the liquid met air and turned into a gas. He clamped his hand over her mouth, making her inhale deeply. Gradually he pried his hand away, and slowly, ever so slowly, she began to relax under Kaldur's gentle but firm grip. She blinked the tears away from her eyes, and she seemed to see her teammates looking at her with concern.

"What…what was that?" she whispered.

"Scarecrow's fear toxin. Now you know firsthand why he's so dangerous." Robin stood up, offering his hand to her. She took it, slowly standing up. Kaldur handed her the bow. Robin sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Sometimes he sticks around to watch it claim his victims, but he knows he's outnumbered this time. He just needed to escape. I don't think we can catch him now."

Kaldur sighed, angry and upset at losing such a dangerous quarry. "Let's just go help the others. Will you be alright?" he asked Artemis.

She rolled her shoulders, trying to look tough, but they all could see she was still shaken. "Yeah…yeah. Let's just go."

Megan meanwhile had her hands wrapped around Superboy's forearm. He was dazed, and she was trying to pull him out of the scalding hot water gushing forth from a pipe he had hit when he crashed. She made it about a quarter of the way before he seemed to snap out of it, and grimacing, quickly crawled out of the way. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Fine," he grunted. Wally zoomed over to them.

"Megan, he's fine. Can we get this guy now?" before waiting for an answer, he sped off after Toyman, who giggled gleefully, dropping jacks on the floor. Wally couldn't avoid them all, and the one he stepped on exploded, flinging the speedster through the air back towards Megan and Superboy. Wally shouted and waved his arms frantically and Megan used her telekinesis to keep him from falling into the scalding water. His body probably couldn't have handled it as well as Superboy's did.

"Kid, be careful!" she admonished.

He grinned goofily at her as she lowered him to the ground again. "Careful's my middle name!"

Superboy shot him one grimace before turning his attention back to Toyman. "You told us your middle name was Danger."

"I have more than one middle name!" He waggled his eyebrows at Megan suggestively. "And I was telling that to Miss Martian here."

"Kid, please, not now." To Wally's credit, he looked guilty for a moment before turning his attention back to Toyman.

"Ok," he began. "I'll run at him again, Supes, you follow along behind with that huge girder there," he pointed to a metal beam lying on the floor, "and at the last second, I'll dodge out of the way, and you swing it home!"

"Kid, I don't think that's going to-" but Megan was cut off as Wally smiled, then disappeared.

"READYGO" he shouted.

"No wait!"

"No time!" Superboy said to Megan before picking up the girder and leaping to follow Wally.

Megan began to fly after them, but then Toyman giggled and threw a Frisbee. Wally dodged it expertly, but once it was behind him it emitted a _hiss_ and gas began spewing forth. Superboy, a good twenty feet behind Wally, took in one enormous breath of air, before making a gushing wind blowing the gas away from him. Right back in Wally's direction.

Megan was further behind them, and she tried to reach out to entrap the gas in a force field, but she was too far away. Wally made a choking noise before collapsing to the ground. It was only then that Superboy seemed to realize his mistake.

Toyman giggled from somewhere in the dark ahead of them, and sang quietly, _"The wish I made, for fear and fright, will come true for you tonight!"_ His echoing laughter slowly faded.

Superboy froze, rooted to the ground, eyes disbelieving, and mouth somewhat open. He could only stare at the fallen speedster. "I…I…"

"Help me!" Megan screamed, flying over to Wally. He was twitching uncontrollably, face down on the ground. "Wally?" Megan asked tentatively, turning him over. She gasped at what she saw.

Wally's entire face was contorted in pain, his eyes slammed shut, and his teeth clenched together. It was obvious he was trying not to scream, as loud, choked off moans came from his mouth. His arms were glued to his torso, his fingers bent into claws of pain. "Wally? Wally, what's wrong?" Megan said, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. But her friend didn't seem to hear her.

She reached out with her mind to the others. Superboy still hadn't moved. _"Guys, help us! Wally's hurt! He inhaled some sort of gas!"_

Kaldur, Robin and Artemis hear the desperate tone of the Martian in their heads and each looked at each other with alarm. Robin reached to his belt, but the vial he had used on Artemis was empty and discarded on the floor where Scarecrow had attacked them.

"I only had one dose…"Robin's voice seemed to fade in realization, and Kaldur narrowed his eyes in determination.

"_Megan, is he having hallucinations?"_ he asked.

"_No, no…he is just…in pain! Hurry! I don't know what to do…"_ she finished in defeat. The other three quickened their pace. Robin saw Artemis bite her lower lip, almost hard enough to draw blood, out of the corner of his eye.

When they got there, Wally's condition had worsened. His body was now convulsing quickly, and each time, he tried his best to stop from emitting a scream. He didn't always succeed. Kaldur glanced quickly at Superboy, who had slumped to his knees in defeat, and was staring at Wally with a haunted look in his eyes. Megan was kneeling over the speedster, her hand on his arm, crying and whispering words of comfort. Robin nearly knocked her over when he bolted to his friend's side.

"Move!" he shouted. Everyone let it slide.

Robin quickly felt for Wally's pulse, and calculated his breathing rate, before looking at Kaldur with alarm. "It's his metabolism," he said. "Scarecrow's fear gas pretty much bypassed the part of his brain programmed to respond, and instead attacked his central nervous system. We have to get him to the League, now! Is Super…" realization dawned on him as he remembered Superman was out of town. That was why they were here in the first place.

Kaldur tapped his earpiece. "Aqualad to Red Tornado. We have a medical emergency."

A robotic voice answered him. "What is the nature of the emergency?"

"Kid Flash down. Dosed with Scarecrow's fear gas. It's attacking his central nervous system. He needs assistance immediately." He tried to keep it as succinct as possible.

"Understood. Help is on the way." Static followed, but cleared up a moment later. A baritone voice came on the line.

"This is John Stewart, where are you?" Kaldur looked at Robin, who brought up a HUD with the GPS coordinates to illuminate everyone in an eerie blue light, including the still prone speedster. Robin spat off the coordinates and a few minutes later, they could see a green glow shining through the windows 40 feet above them.

John Stewart cut a hole in the wall with his power ring, before gliding through it. The Green Lantern was ready to give a piece of his mind to the bunch of kids that had gotten in way over their heads, but his face softened when they all looked at him, each of their faces a mix of hope and despair and the boy convulsing on the ground.

He pointed his wrist forward, and a green orb of light encircled the prone speedster, lifting him off the ground. "I'll get him to the watchtower. You kids just get home." He flew off in the direction he had come, Wally in tow.

-YJ-

The five of them shuffled dejectedly into Mount Justice as the computerized voice spouted off their names. Red Tornado, Black Canary and Batman were waiting. Upon seeing his mentor, Robin immediately ran up to Batman. "Batman, Wally, he needs your-"

Batman held up a hand immediately silencing his protégé. "They have the antidote at the Watchtower. He's already being treated. It's good you acted when you did." He looked pointedly at Kaldur. "There will be debriefing in two hours. Go clean up."

No one looked excited at the prospect.

Megan found Superboy in the hallway. On the way home in the bioship, she had explained to everyone what had happened. No one else had said a word. No one had blamed anyone out loud, but no one had absolved anyone else either.

"Superboy," she said quietly. "This…what happened to Wally…isn't your fault." He looked at her, anger written clearly across his features.

"Yes, it is. I didn't think. None of us did." He growled.

"That's right, you didn't. And now Wally's dying because of it." A voice growled from the shadows. Robin stepped out.

Superboy growled, even though he had admitted guilt just a moment earlier.

"Robin, please" Megan said, trying to diffuse the situation. "We all made mistakes. Even Wally."

"Wally's mistakes didn't cause anyone to die!" Robin shouted, losing his temper.

"No, they didn't." Kaldur said calmly, walking down the hall towards them. "But neither did Superboy's. We came together when it really counted, and saved Wally's life. Black Canary told me he's recovering. We have only been a team a few months. We have made mistakes, and we will make many more. We need the practice. No one's perfect, and we were taking on villains that even Batman and Superman have trouble with." He sighed, placing his hand gently on Robin's shoulder, even though the smaller boy was still fuming. "It is learning to forgive each other our mistakes that makes us a team."

Robin nodded silently, wiping at his eyes. "We're all scared," Kaldur continued. "But it is our strength and friendship that bind us together in the face of fear that make us a team." He looked pointedly at Superboy.

Superboy looked back at him, not saying anything, before walking away.

Artemis listened silently, tears in her eyes, from an adjacent room.

-YJ-

Wally returned to consciousness slowly. It was the slowest thing he had done in a long time. Bit by bit, his brain processed where he was. His whole body felt like someone had stretched out all his muscles and then let them snap back in place like a rubber band. He ached _everywhere_. He didn't open his eyes, but he could tell there was a harsh light above him, and a heart monitor beeped softly from somewhere up to his right. He twitched his fingers and felt the pull of an IV. Hospital then. Wait, the hospital? What if they found out his secret? What had happened? Alarmed, he opened his eyes and saw his Uncle Barry in his Flash uniform, but with the cowl pulled down. The Flash seemed to be dozing, resting his head in a hand with his elbow on the arm of the chair.

"Uncle Barry?" he whispered. He frowned at the wheeze that came out. He coughed, then repeated himself a little louder.

The cough seemed to rouse his uncle, who was awake instantly, and leapt out of his chair. "Wally!" He took his nephew's hand gently. "How do you feel?"

"I've been better," Wally admitted, grimacing. "What happened anyway? Where are we?"

"The Watchtower," Barry said.

Wally, his pain momentarily forgotten, tried to sit up excitedly. "Really?"

Barry laughed gently, easing Wally back down. "Easy there, Kid. You've had a rough day. I'll give you the tour some other time. As for what happened…what do you remember?" he asked tentatively.

Wally wrinkled his forehead and bit his lip trying to remember. "I…" he thought back, and suddenly remembered the mission, the fight, the pain. "Toyman!" he groaned. "Is everyone else ok?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"They're fine, Wally. We're all just worried about you. The gas attacked your nervous system, but luckily your team was able to get help in time. You're going to be sore for a few days, but otherwise ok. NO RUNNING." He gave the last instruction sternly.

Wally's stomach grumbled loudly. "But you guys do have a cafeteria up here, right?"

Barry laughed.

-YJ-

Two days later, Wally had been released from the Watchtower (they wouldn't let him out of his room) and found himself in his civies, reentering Mt. Justice. When the computer announced his presence, he was immediately met by Miss Martian, who threw herself at him. Wally was surprised, and a little excited.

"Wally! I'm so glad you're back! I was so worried!" Wally patted her awkwardly on the back, as the rest of the team started filing in. Robin came over and gave Wally a slap on the back, which made the speedster grimace a little, but he smiled back.

"We are all glad you are alright," Kaldur said softly.

Artemis stomped up to him, and punched him roughly in the shoulder. "Jeez, what was that for?" he said angrily.

"Don't you EVER let that happen again!" Her cheeks flushed a little, and she said "Where the hell else are we supposed to find a teammate as fast as you?" she mumbled.

He looked surprised, then grinned at her. "Well, you are looking at the one and only!"

She growled, then stomped off. "Imbecile," she said.

Superboy came up last, avoiding Wally's gaze. "Wally…I'm…sorry…" he ground out. It looked like he had been struggling over what to say for a while.

"Dude, it's fine." Wally said, not even hesitating.

"But…you could have died because of me!" he said.

Wally looked at him seriously. "I could have died because of _me_. It was a mistake, anyone could see that." Kaldur put his hand on Wally's shoulder, facing Superboy.

"We all made mistakes, and we all have things to work on. It is impossible to have a flawless team the first few months of existence, if ever. Those expectations are unreal. For now, we will focus on looking out for one another, listening to each other, and working as a unit. We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go." He looked at each of them in turn. "In the meantime, Wally, I think Megan has baked you a welcome back present."

The Martian's face lit up. "Yes! It's a pie!"

Wally's stomach rumbled loudly, and he heard Artemis snort loudly from somewhere out of sight. "What are we waiting for? There's an emergency in the kitchen! I haven't had any pie yet!" He started to speed off in the direction of the kitchen when Kaldur's, Robin's and Miss Martian's voices stopped him in his tracks.

"NO RUNNING."

He hunched his shoulders and turned around to face them. "Who have you all been talking to?"

-End-

_A/N: Yay, first YJ fic complete! Reviews are always read and I am very appreciative of them. Few things I'd like to note. I know in the comics/JL universes, Wally and John Stewart are closer in age, but in YJ John Stewart was shown as himself, so I'm gonna go with that version. Also, it's still sort of unclear to me how the radio communications work and when and where they can use them, so I went with the assumption that they have their own frequency and RT and tap into the JL's at any time. I was gonna originally have Robin call Oracle and then I was like "Durr, at this point in time Barbara Gordan is younger than Dick Grayson." So unless the writers deem fit to change that, no Oracle. Thanks very much for reading!_


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